The prestigious award in Physiology or Medicine was awarded for revolutionary discoveries that clarify how the body's defense network attacks harmful pathogens while protecting the body's own cells.
A trio of esteemed researchers—Japan's Shimon Sakaguchi and American scientists Dr. Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—share this accolade.
Their work uncovered specialized "sentinels" within the defense system that remove rogue immune cells capable of attacking the organism.
The discoveries are now enabling new treatments for autoimmune diseases and malignancies.
The laureates will divide a prize fund valued at 11 million SEK.
Decisive Discoveries
"Their research has been decisive for comprehending how the body's defenses functions and the reason we do not all develop serious autoimmune diseases," stated the chair of the award panel.
This team's studies address a core mystery: How does the immune system protect us from countless invaders while leaving our own tissues unharmed?
The body's protection system uses white blood cells that scan for indicators of infection, even viruses and bacteria it has never encountered.
Such defenders employ detectors—called recognition units—that are produced by chance in countless combinations.
That gives the immune system the ability to combat a wide array of invaders, but the randomness of the process unavoidably produces white blood cells that may target the body.
Security Guards of the Body
Researchers previously understood that some of these problematic white blood cells were destroyed in the thymus—where white blood cells mature.
The latest award recognizes the identification of regulatory T-cells—known as the immune system's "security guards"—which patrol the system to disarm any defenders that assault the healthy cells.
We know that this process fails in autoimmune diseases such as type-1 diabetes, MS, and rheumatoid arthritis.
A prize committee stated, "The discoveries have established a novel area of investigation and accelerated the development of innovative therapies, for instance for cancer and autoimmune diseases."
Regarding malignancies, T-regs prevent the body from attacking the tumor, so research are aimed at lowering their numbers.
In self-attack disorders, experiments are testing boosting T-reg cells so the body is no longer under attack. A similar method could also be useful in reducing the risks of transplanted organ rejection.
Pioneering Studies
Prof Shimon Sakaguchi, of Osaka University, conducted tests on rodents that had their thymus removed, leading to self-attack conditions.
The researcher showed that introducing defense cells from other mice could prevent the disease—implying there was a system for blocking immune cells from harming the body.
Dr. Brunkow, affiliated with the a research center in Seattle, and Dr. Ramsdell, currently at a biotech firm in a California city, were investigating an inherited immune disorder in rodents and humans that led to the identification of a gene critical for how T-regs function.
"Their pioneering work has revealed how the immune system is controlled by regulatory T cells, stopping it from mistakenly attacking the body's own tissues," commented a leading biological science expert.
"This work is a striking example of how basic biological study can have far-reaching consequences for public health."
